Shorewomen Win Four Sets to Win Classic

CHESTERTOWN, MD -- Washington College won the 34th annual Penny Fall Classic for the first-time ever on Saturday at the Cain Athletic Center. Washington (8-6) beat Albright (6-9) in the finale, 3-0 (25-17, 25-20, 25-19), while falling to Stevenson (7-7) in the opening match, 3-1 (25-22, 21-25, 25-18, 25-19). The middle match saw Albright down Stevenson, 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-23). The Shorewomen won the classic by winning four sets, while the Lions and Mustangs won three each.

In the final match of the day, the Shorewomen were tied with Albright 12-12 in the first set, but rolled off five straight points to take a 17-12 lead to take control of the first set. A kill by freshman libero Kaitlin Rowan (Damascus, MD/Damascus) capped off the five point in a row rally. The Shorewomen closed out the set with back-to-back unassisted kills by seniors, middle hitter Kelli Canada (Midlothian, VA/James River) and setter Cailtin Ward (Wantagh, NY/Holy Trinity) respectively. The Shorewomen had six unassisted kills in the first set. In the second set, the Lions took a 16-15 lead following a kill by Danielle Ozment before Washington netted seven straight points to take a 22-16 lead. The rally was capped by a service ace from sophomore outside hitter Alyssa Forget (River Vale, NJ/Pascack Valley). Sophomore outside hitter Lauren Feeny (Upper Darby, PA/Villa Maria Academy) closed out the second set with a kill from Ward. Washington jumped out to an 11-5 lead in the third and final set, before Albright scored 14 of the next 23 points to cut the lead to 20-19. The Shorewomen would answer by winning the last five points of the set to sweep the match. Forget tallied the match clinching kill with freshman middle hitter Jenny Lee (Wilmington, DE/Mount Pleasant) chalking up the helper.

For Washington, Forget led all players with 12 kills and racked up seven digs. Ward had a match-best 32 assists and netted seven digs. Rowan scooped up a match-high 21 digs in the win. Ward and Forget handed out three service aces for tops in the match. For Albright, Lauren Higgins had a double-double with a team-high 17 assists and along with Ozment had 11 digs. Ozment had seven kills for tops on the Lions. Washington had 11 service aces in the win, while Albright had just two.

In the opening match, Stevenson won the final two sets to win the match in four sets over Washington. The Mustangs won the first set 25-22, jumping out to a 20-9 lead before holding off the Shorewomen. Washington got the deficit as close as one point at 23-22 before Stevenson won the final two points to win the opening set. The final point was recorded by Brooke Gilley as she tallied a kill with Amy Rudolph recording the assist. Washington in the second set jumped out to a 23-10 lead before holding off a furious Stevenson rally to win 25-21. Forget ended the second set with a kill, with Ward picking up the assist. Stevenson jumped out to a 15-6 lead in the third set and the lead never got closer than five points the rest of the way as the Mustangs hit .278 in the set to win 25-18. The guests won the fourth set 25-19 as they opened up a 20-10 lead after the first 30 points of the last set. Gilley clinched the match for Stevenson on a kill from Rudolph.

For the Mustangs, Avery Gabbard tallied a double-double with 13 kills and 15 digs to register a double-double. Alexa Carney and Gilley had 13 digs apiece, while Jen Glock totaled 10 kills. Ruldolph had 40 assists to lead all players in the opening match. For the Shorewomen, Lee had a double-double with 10 kills and 10 assists, while leading all players with four service aces. Three other players had double-digit dig totals, Rowan with 17, leading all players, Forget with 14 and Ward with 11. Ward had a double-double along with Lee as she had 32 assists.

Albright swept Stevenson in three sets in the middle match. For the Lions, Ozment had 14 kills to lead all players in the victory and had 11 digs to record a double-double. Kelly Nicodemus had a match-best 14 digs, while Higgins handed out 35 assists in the win. For the Mustangs, Rudolph had 29 assists, while Carney netted 13 digs. Two players had double-digit kill totals for Stevenson, Gabbard with 12 and Dani Katsampis with 10.

The Shorewomen return to action on Wednesday, September 30 at 7:00 p.m. with a Centennial Conference match at Swarthmore.